The big news in Boston this week -- some television stations interrupted regular programming to cover the announcement -- is that New Yorker Phillip Eng, who helped turn around the Long Island Railroad, has been appointed the next general manager of Boston's MBTA public transit system.
The MBTA is arguably a Top Five public transit system in the United States and recently opened its Green Line light rail extension project under budget and with relatively few kinks. But apart from that the system has been captured in a death spiral of negative headlines the last two years, including trains derailing or catching on fire, disturbing deaths on the system, a damning federal safety report, hiring challenges and service delays and cutbacks, and other challenges. Mass. Governor Maura Healey noted that Eng was probably her most important appointment "knowing how desperate the public is for leadership and a turnaround here."
Eng will earn approximately $500K a year, making him one of the best compensate public transit agency heads in the country.
Crisis-Hit MBTA to Be Led by Man Who Turned Around Long Island Railroad
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local...eport/3006525/